by John Wilmes

Joel Embiid has won a turf war against Ben Simmons because he's improved a bit more and definitely in easily noticeable ways. Embiid also won over the people in power within the Sixers, as well as the fans and the media.

by Colin McGowan

As hard as this summer has been on his shaken teammate, Joel Embiid has surely been struggling too. Struggling to keep his thoughts to himself, to put in the work knowing that his fate will be decided by forces beyond his own commitment. It's an existential bother, a fittingly big mannish problem.

by Jack Tien-Dana

The Sixers have succeeded because they moved counter to the NBA's prevailing trends. Whereas other teams focused on optimizing their offense until it reached some analytically divined flow state, Philly yucked their opponents' yum.